UNCW Names ECU's Bass As New AD

Three weeks after Kelly Mehrtens departure from UNCW, Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo has found her replacement.

Jimmy Bass, Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Operations at East Carolina University, will be the next Athletics Director at the University.

The announcement came at a 4pm press conference a day after the Board of Trustees Executive Committee met to approve terms of an employment contract.

WITN reported Monday that Bass had met with the UNCW search committee at some point last week. A source close to Bass was not sure of the day of the meeting but did confirm it took place.

Bass was the first full time fundraiser and executive director of the UNCW Seahawk Club (1986-1989). In his three years he helped to increase membership from 250 to 1,100.

Bass was appointed to his position at ECU in 2006. He currently oversees all fundraising, marketing, promotional, ticketing and media relations efforts for ECU.

From 1989 to 1994 the Dunn, NC native served as ECU's Assistant Athletics Director for Marketing.

Outside of a six-month stay at Mississippi State University where he served as Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Bass has spent the bulk of his career in North Carolina with stops at Davidson

Davidson (1979-81), North Carolina State (1981-1986, 1994-2005), UNC Wilmington (1986-1989) and East Carolina. He also served an 11-month stint as Director of Development at the University of Pittsburgh (Pa.) in 1994.

As Associate Executive Director of the Wolfpack Club from April, 2000 to July, 2005, Bass directed the strategic planning and the execution of the Goal Line Drive, a five-year campaign which raised over $60,000,000 for expansion and improvements at Carter-Finley Stadium. During the same time, he also spearheaded the foresight and operation of the Batter Up Campaign for the renovation of Doak Baseball Field and the Advantage Wolfpack Campaign for the construction of the Isenhour Indoor Tennis Center.

He earned a bachelor's degree in speech communication from N.C. State in 1978 before adding a master's in sports administration from Ohio University in 1980 and is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) and National Association of Athletic Development Directors (NAADD).

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